Bible Sunday 2015
As texts vary for this particular Sunday this is a specifically 'general' sermon. It is not intended in any way to contradict the importance of the bible by not using specific texts !
Today is the day appointed in the Church
calendar as Bible Sunday. In one of the more modern translations of the book
there is a preview which describes the book as ‘pages that contain stories on
an epic scale – thrillers, adventures, family sagas and more – taut with
emotion and spanning the whole of history.
Yet a single current – one of love,
sadness, betrayal and forgiveness – flows through. It points to a Father who
offered his only Son so that we can go free….
A cast of thousands crowds the pages – people
living in different times and different places… But the casting isn’t closed.
In the continuing drama, each one of us is invited to play a part.’
Reading this preview this books sounds
far more interesting than any episode of Eastenders, Coronation Street,
Emmerdale, or even the best soap of all, Neighbours!
Yet this book written over a 1600 year
time span with over 40 different authors from all walks of life is rarely read,
other than in Churches…
It remains the best selling book of all
time, but it is a book often bought as a present, perhaps for a confirmation or
baptism, or as a book that you just should have somewhere on your shelf at home
– Perhaps it’ll be useful to answer some of those tricky crossword questions.
Somebody once said that some people store
their money inside a Bible because they know they won’t open it – for many
people, it is a book of little relevance and no real value.
But today, on this Bible Sunday, we are
called to give thanks for the word of God as revealed to us in the Bible, and
we are challenged to think more about it, and its meaning in our lives, and for
us as Christians, it should have a very deep and a very personal meaning. It
is, or should be, an invaluable tool for each one of us, whether as a book of
reference, a book of encouragement, of history, of love, of joy or so many
other things…
St. Paul writes in his letter to the
Romans (15:4), ‘Whatever was written in former days was written for our
instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures,
we might have hope.’
As Christians we talk of loving and
serving God, and if we are to do that then we can’t ignore the book that can
bring us closest to him. When we fall in love with someone it is natural to try
and find out as much about them as possible – but with God we don’t seem so
concerned about this.
People sometimes say that the Bible is
not relevant to society today, but in a society where we see and hear about
violent crime, terrorism and war, in a society where many people live on the
streets, take drugs, become dependant on alcohol and so on, surely a message of
love, a message of hope is extremely relevant. Surely a message that someone
loves us enough to die for us is one that we should want to be reading about
and it is one we should want to be sharing. That is what the Bible is about…
This is a book that is relevant – a book
that is offering challenges, encouragements, teaching and promises… This is a
book demanding to be read, and demanding a response. Each one of us is invited,
as that preview I mentioned earlier says, ‘to play our part in the continuing
drama.’
In our everyday lives we must be seen as
Christians, as witnesses to the Christian faith – we are Christ’s body on earth
today – proclaiming and trying to live out his message. It is a role that, with
a greater knowledge of the Bible, we will be equipped to perform better. If we
want to know how to live our lives according to what Jesus said then we must
start by looking at the documents that are most relevant to his life – in other
words the Bible – the ones may not always be the ones we want or even expect –
we must be prepared to be challenged, and we need to prepare to be changed. The
19th century evangelist,, D L Moody, once wrote, ‘God doesn’t give
us the scriptures to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.’
If we want to think about our attitude to
racism, to criminals, the homeless or the addict, or towards those people we
don’t like very much then we need to be looking at the Bible... God will offer
us the answers through his word. Today’s answers are there because Jesus is
alive and relevant today.
The challenge of the Bible is huge – but
it is central to our faith – it is to be grappled with, enjoyed, tested,
examined, read to encourage, read to cheer you up and so on…
And we must really expect to be
challenged by the Bible – when we look closely at it, as I’ve said, we may not
like some of the things we are told – and if you’re anything like me then you
certainly won’t understand all that’s in it – Mark Twain, the American author
said, ‘most people are bothered by the passages of scriptures which they cannot
understand; but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in scripture
that bother me most are those which I do understand… ’
The challenge to love both God and our
neighbour in today’s gospel is clear – it is not open to discussion or debate –
this is central to our faith – the need to truly care about the person sitting
next to us, the person sitting across the Church, in another Church, in the
supermarket, in the pub, in the prison, in the hospital, on the streets… these
are the challenges we face…
If we are prepared to be challenged by
the Bible, and prepared to be changed, then we will truly know and understand
the many sacrifices that God has made for us, and we will want to enjoy those
gifts that he has prepared for us, and share those gifts with others, however
difficult it may be at times…
The Bible is not some elaborate reference
book… I think I’ve quoted before Rob Lacey who has written a street version of
the Bible which is now selling fast throughout the world – he paraphrases part
of the second letter of Paul to Timothy like this, ‘God’s instruction manual is
vivid, vibrant, action packed with spiritual muscle, it penetrates deeper than
a Kalashnikov bullet – it gets between body and soul, gets right into your
joints…’
That is the power of the Bible if we want
and allow God to work through it… Just to finish and as an example of the
relevance of the Bible, there’s a true story of an American Soldier who was on
one of the South Sea Islands in the 2nd world war – the friendly
host, trying to assure the soldier that they had many things in common brought
a copy of the bible out of his hut, and he said, ‘This is my most prized
possession.’
Dismissively the soldier replied, ‘We’ve
outgrown that sort of thing in our country.’
The islander who belonged to a tribe that
had until recently, practised cannibalism was unimpressed by this lack of
courtesy as well as the lack of faith, and he replied, ‘It’s a good thing we
haven’t outgrown it here – if we had you would have been a meal as soon as we
saw you.’
Let us pray : Lord we thank you for your
written word of scripture, for the living word in Jesus, and for the spoken
word of your messengers. Teach us, guide us, and strengthen us, so that we may
live in harmony with all your people, and in times of trouble, when things seem
unstable and insecure, may we rest our confidence in your words, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. AMEN
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